The RTE news website is good. However, their videos are too slow! They pause every few seconds while playing...which is frustrating. I wish they had an option like YouTube where the user can select a lower quality image so the video can run more smoothly.

p.s. I'm located in South Korea, a country with one of the fastest internet connections in the world. So if it's problematic for me, it must cause problems for others.

well, as you say, it's unlikely to be a problem your end simply because you're in a country with some of the best broadband on the planet, but it's definitely not their end either because I just did a little test and was able to start 6 concurrent RTE player streams at once without any buffering or stuttering at all so it's not RTE's fault either.

have you tried starting the video's then pausing them for a couple of minutes to let them buffer? not sure if it'll work, but it sometimes does on a lot of video sites if there are buffering issues.

chances are it's an issue in one or more of the many hops somewhere in between you and RTE that is causing the problems.

Interesting. It's good to know that it works for you, so i can stop blaming RTE.

I tried pausing the thing for a good few minutes but that didn't work. It's not like it is on YouTube where you can pause it and let it download first.

I just tried to watch good ol' Pat Kenny on the Frontline, but was frustrated every 10 seconds by it freezing. Aarrrghhh! Aww well. C'est la vie.

I used to have such problems with RTE a few months ago, then it improved for a few months, now it's back again. I hope it's just temporary. I like to keep up with the news at home.

p.s. Good Lord, there's nothing but bad news coming from Ireland at the moment. At least it makes for interesting news!

I have seen this before where a person had a great connection but videos just kept buffering and it was caused by the processor in the pc not able to handle all the processes going on on the pc plus streaming videos.

Try turning off some applications on your pc and try it again to see if it has improved.

Same problem here. The thing is tv3 works fine and on the older site that allowed one to play video files via flash player it was fine as well. But the rte player thing never used to work for me. Is there anyway where I can get the damm thing to buffer like youtube or tv3? Mighty annoying!

Is there anyway around this? It buffers max about 20 seconds at a time then drops down to 2-3 seconds... the encryption is all well and good but I don't see that its really necessary for the news or current affairs and that it makes playing it abroad pretty much impossible

Is there anyway around this? It buffers max about 20 seconds at a time then drops down to 2-3 seconds... the encryption is all well and good but I don't see that its really necessary for the news or current affairs and that it makes playing it abroad pretty much impossible

i think their point is, you're not supposed to be playing it abroad, much like the BBC iPlayer.

Is there anyway around this? It buffers max about 20 seconds at a time then drops down to 2-3 seconds... the encryption is all well and good but I don't see that its really necessary for the news or current affairs and that it makes playing it abroad pretty much impossible

All videos are encrypted the same way, there's no difference between the news system and the player/GAA. I don't think there's any point in unsecuring the news, all done the same way stops exploits etc

i think their point is, you're not supposed to be playing it abroad, much like the BBC iPlayer.

I am not using a proxy or anything like that. The content I am viewing is supposed to be viewable abroad as there is some content there that I cannot view, thats fair enough. Thing is this content, due to the new way they are streaming it is petty much impossible to view abroad so defeats the purpose of letting users abroad watch it.

I am not using a proxy or anything like that. The content I am viewing is supposed to be viewable abroad as there is some content there that I cannot view, thats fair enough. Thing is this content, due to the new way they are streaming it is petty much impossible to view abroad so defeats the purpose of letting users abroad watch it.

balls, sorry then i'm not sure if there's anything you can do, unless you want to try emailing them directly? maybe there's something they can do to improve things for you?

As an Irishman abroad, i have to resort to the BBC to get my Irish news (for the reasons mentioned above). I hope that changes. There's noting better than getting your news and analysis from the likes of Ann Doyle or Pat Kenny. You don't appreciate those familiar voices until you're far away. he he.

As an Irishman abroad, i have to resort to the BBC to get my Irish news (for the reasons mentioned above). I hope that changes. There's noting better than getting your news and analysis from the likes of Ann Doyle or Pat Kenny. You don't appreciate those familiar voices until you're far away. he he.

the only thing can recommend is to contact RTE directly to let them know. it's possible they aren't even aware there are any issues like this and there may be something they can do to improve the situation.